Fairfield, New Zealand, November 14, 2014 /PressReleasePing/ - Disasters can occur anywhere, anytime, at any location, to any society. The past few decades have witnessed a significant increase in natural disasters. According to the UN statistics, nearly 400-500 natural disasters and calamities take place annually. Major vicissitudes and overall global variations like climate change, loss of biodiversity, constant and rapid environmental degradation, ozone forfeiture mutilations and global warming are the key reasons and causative emancipations to disasters increase. The devastative consequences of such cataclysms, that are posed with the detrimental damages to the global communities, their infrastructures and in their overall socio-economic set-ups, are becoming exceedingly and alarmingly high. Asia's 2004-Tsunami alone, devastated over 6 countries, leaving over 3 million as homeless, hundreds of thousands as displaced and, with a toll rate exceeding 2,70,000.

In view of the afore-mentioned corresponding facts, the United Nations designated an International Observance Day for Disaster Reduction, in 1989 with the approval by it's General Assembly. The UN General Assembly sees the IDDR as a way to promote a global culture of disaster reduction, including disaster prevention, mitigation and preparedness. Originally celebrated as per resolution 44/236, 22 December 1989, the UN General Assembly decided to designate 10/13 as the date to celebrate the IDDR (resolution 64/200, 21 December 2009).

International Day for Disaster Reduction is a day to celebrate how people and communities are reducing their risk to disasters and raising awareness about the importance of DRR. It's also a day to encourage every citizen and government to take part in building more disaster resilient communities and nations.

The 2014 theme for the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction "Resilience is for Life", is part of a 'Step Up Initiative', that started in 2011 through 2014.

The step-up initiative 2011-2014 focuses on a different group of partners every year leading up to the World Conference for Disaster Reduction in 2015.

This year the focus of the International Day for Disaster Reduction was on older people, including their needs and what they contribute to better planning and understanding of disaster risk in their communities. IDDR 2014 intended to switch on and amplify this critical issue now and for the post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction.

As the year 2014, categorically marks the conclusive year for the 'Step-up Initiative', as well as the second-last round up for Hyogo Framework of Action, the celebrations got an extraordinary extended elegance. The day and the theme "Resilience is for life" were used to boost age-inclusive disaster risk reduction across the world from Kathmandu to Canberra, and from Addis Ababa to Beijing.

Various organizations, groups and institutions around the world celebrated the UN-IDDR from 11/13 through end of the month, followed by workshops, seminars and symposiums. Since the role of science cannot be over-sighted in the DRR contexts, the fortnight-long celebrations concluded up by a convergence of IDDR to the UN's World Science Day for Peace and Development UN-WSDPD-2014.

A record tweeting--over 4.3 million tweets were propelled up and sent to UTC on IDDR-2014 in a thunderclap announcement in support of age inclusive disaster risk reduction.

People found themselves in a transformative sort of company alongside the UN family, the Kofi Annan Foundation, the International Telecommunications Union, the World Meteorological Organization, the Tear Fund, ODI, the Axa Research Fund, Inspectorate for Emergency Situation Petrodava Romania, Southwest Neighborhood Assembly (SWNA), SAIRI Research Initiative Pakistan, NARRI Consortium Bangladesh, Plan International Laos and several others UNISDR's partner for this year's campaign.

Indonesia marked IDDR-2014 by piloting a National Conference on Community Based DRR, organized by Indonesia's Disaster Management Society, in collaboration with Plan International.

Plan International also organized a National Symposium on DRR and Resilience, in Kathmandu. Nepal.

Saritsa Foundation, India organized workshops in Mumbai and Maharashtra, for older people (Seniors and Super Seniors) to raise social awareness for the needs of such people to protect their lives and make use of their valuable experience to develop resilience.

The Lisbon City Council through the Civil Protection Department Portugal, celebrated this year's International Disaster Reduction Day with a Seminar where the public entities invited, shared their experiences about emergency planning, citizenship in a disaster environment and the role of local communities in disaster risk reduction.

In Washington DC, Peggy Keller MPH, Director of Community Preparedness and Resilience, Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Administration, DC Department of Health made a DRR presentation on 'Resilience for the Whole Communty'.

ODI organized the IDDR event with keynote presentations from: Silvia Stefanoni, Director of Policy and Strategy, HelpAge International, and Tom Mitchell, Head of Climate and Environment.

In Nepal, there held an earthquake simulation at a home for older persons.

In the UK, there held the London launch of HelpAge International's new report "Resilience in an Ageing World" hosted by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI).

The Department of Disaster Management under the Ministry of Home & Culture Affairs, Bhutan have been observing the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction every year since 2008 in close collaboration with School and communities raise awareness on DRR, creating social responsibility and mobilization of general public to get involved and take ownership of the future Disaster Risk Reduction Initiatives. This year too, the day was observed in Punakha Dzongkhag, presided by Dasho Dzongdag (Governor) of Punakha Dzongkhag.

In Viet Nam, a major DRR educational event took place. Save the children International, in collaboration with the Viet Nan government organized a series of lectures on DRR measures at Conference Centre of Tien Giang People Committee.

The 5th Conference of the International Society for Integrated Disaster Risk Management (IDRiM 2014) took place at Western University, London, Ontario, Canada, from 10/30 to 11/1 2014. The theme of conference was "Building Disaster Resilient Communities".

The European Commission's Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department (ECHO) supports disaster preparedness activities in the nine most disaster-prone regions throughout the world. Efforts are focused on building resilience of vulnerable communities to the trend of more frequent and more devastating disasters.

The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) and HelpAge International issued a joint call for greater involvement of older persons in disaster management efforts worldwide in order to bring down death tolls among those over 60.

HelpAge International's CEO Toby Porter joined UNISDR's Head of Regional Office, Sharon Rusu, for the main global event in Rustenburg, South Africa, hosted by the South African government.

UNISDR and HelpAge International are calling on governments to sign up to Charter 14 for Older People in Disaster Risk Reduction and commit to specific inclusion of older persons in all facets of disaster management planning with a strong emphasis on early warnings and evacuation procedures.

In a reference-passage, the official citation of DRR-HFA Manifesto-2014 of UN's Step-up Initiative being concluded by IDDR-2014, states, that, "As a testament of the meritorious renderings that made some 'difference' in DRR executional framework reprieves in the aftermaths of Asian Tsunami-2004—the highest-observed devastating catastrophe of the recorded history of last millennium's natural cataclysms.

Besides the utmost wreckage-desolations, that quite austerely devastated and shattered almost 9 main oceanic sectors of Asia, including the hard-hit coastal zones of Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India and Sumatra, and its unprecedented scale of destruction, Tsunami-04 brought forth a way to measure the real impact factor in terms of the actual 'on-ground renderings' conceded thereupon.

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